


Because of Hani

by gachigallae



Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Family, M/M, i will update the tags as i go with this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-10-11 01:56:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10452393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gachigallae/pseuds/gachigallae
Summary: Dongmin's daughter was the light of his life. Everything he did was for her. Everything that his life threw at him was because of Hani.DISCLAIMER: This story has nothing to do with EXID's Hani. The author chose the name without any thought of the idol.





	1. Stranger things

Dongmin grumbled unpleasantly as he changed his button-up for the third time that morning, throwing the piece of clothing deep inside his closet and frantically pushing the items hanging in it to the side and out of his sight, as he tried to pick out something that looked neat enough to wear for the day. He didn’t have a specific vision of how he wanted to look, nor was it a special occasion. It was just one of those days when he wanted to put some effort into how he presents himself (not that he needed to, as anything he ever wore set on his lean frame as if he was about to walk on a runway). Either way, nothing seemed to satisfy him, as every outfit Dongmin tried out only left a bitter taste on the end of his tongue.

Glancing at the clock, he decided to go seek advice from the most important person in his life. She had to be awake.

Two shirts in his hands were delicately pressed to his chest as he softly knocked on the wooden door. “Honey.” His eyes fixed on the hardwood floor, which was glowing yellow - illuminated by the light coming from the room he was about to enter. It was a good enough indicator that Dongmin was right and the person behind the neatly white painted door already began their morning routine. With that thought, Dongmin stepped inside the room only to be greeted by a pair of coffee-like eyes. “The sleepyhead is awake, who would have thought.” A warm smile to match those soft eyes appeared on her face.

He held the two items he brought into the room up, shaking his hands a bit and causing the material to flail, sleeves of the two separate shirts intertwisting with each other. “Help me out, sweetheart.”

“Go with the white one,” her high-pitched voice offered advice like it did every other morning. Without any doubt in his head, Dongmin always took her words with a firm nod. Throwing the blue shirt on the covers of the bed he put on the white piece on top of his undershirt, buttoning up and looking around the neat room. His habits seemed to be rubbing off on her after the two years they spent together.

“What would I do without my personal stylist.” Dongmin couldn't help but coo at her while his hands were busy doing the buttons of his sleeves.

“Aren’t stylists supposed to earn money?”

His habits were  _definitely_  rubbing off on her.

“What a smart mouth you have got there, young lady.” He smiled mischievously, taking slow steps towards her small frame, arms stretched out towards the girl. Halfway to her he began wiggling his fingers at a fast pace -  a wordless preview of what was about to happen to her.

The way she backed away from him and started jumping around the room while giggling lightly made his heart soar. And to think that he struggled so much with his choice two years ago that he almost backed out from what he had named the most beautiful relationship he had ever been a part of. If today’s Dongmin, the 32 year old lawyer, could travel back to that time, he would kick himself in the shin for questioning his own choices. She brought so much light and joy into his world that whenever his mind tried to go to an alternate reality where she isn’t in his life, he felt cold and numb.

Dongmin chased her carelessly around the room for a little while, threatening to tickle her until she dies or, preferably, promises to love him and him only forever. But the man is caught off guard when after about five minutes of chasing the small hurricane around the room, she got on the bed and flung her body off it and straight towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He had no choice but to catch her, stumbling back a couple of steps because of the unexpected action. Wrapping his arms around her, he spins in place a couple of times while smiling brightly and poking her cheek. Dongmin made sure to make a big deal about how cute the roundness and the fullness of her cheeks was. That earned him a prolonged giggle and a couple of soft, playful smacks on his cheeks which he gladly accepted.

“Want me to carry you?”

“Yes!”

“This is the last time.” _A complete lie._ ” Or you’ll forget how to walk.”

He was three steps out the room when she yelled directly into his face. “Wait!!” Dongmin stops in his tracks. “You forgot my schoolbag, dad!” Another sentence was shouted directly into his soft features and the man couldn’t help but frown, letting her down on the ground and crossing his arms on his chest with an almost too firm expression on his face. 

“Hani, what did we talk about shouting like that.”

“Sorry, dad.” She bowed, suddenly very aware of how unsatisfied her father was. The girl peered at him from behind her long eyelashes, dark eyes glimmering in the faint light of the hallway as she kicked the ground a couple of times. In all honestly, she looked like a lost puppy highly aware of it's wrongdoings.

Dongmin tried to keep his composure, but she seemed to get to him every time. Her puppy-like stare made him turn into mush and all he could do was exhale loudly trough his nose. To say that he was wrapped around her little finger was an understatement. Truthfully, Dongmin completely submitted to her ever command, doing whatever she asked him to, buying her whatever she wanted, quickly forgiving her for any behavior. Around a year ago, Hani made a couple of childish ‘unicorn’ and ‘butterfly’ pins with some fabric and the bedazzler he bought her. Those pins were his birthday present that year and Dongmin sure as hell wore those pins for good two or three months to every trial and meeting he had, showing them off to whoever he met. It earned him a couple of weird looks, but he didn't care. Because those few pins were the most beautiful pins he had ever seen in his entire life.

“Go eat breakfast, I made waffles.” Seconds later she was out of his view, only a faint sound of pitter-patter across the wooden floor could be heard. “Drink the juice too, dad made it himself!” he yelled after the girl before turning back to her room to get her bag.

Moments later he was sitting next to his daughter at the table, munching on the waffles that filled the whole open room with a deliciously sweet smell. They made small conversation about her day, upcoming tests and what she learned so far in the piano lessons Dongmin signer her up for. He did that without really talking the activity over with Hani first, so when he told her about her new hobby, he first received a temper tantrum and a lot of tears. Luckily, he only had to beg ( _read as **bribe**_ ) her to go the first few times, as after her fifth lesson she seemed to have endorsed it and enjoying slowly mastering the instrument that Dongmin himself played when he was younger.

Hani also took up dancing around two weeks ago.

“Will you need a ride to the dance studio tonight? Because dad has some work to do that might drag on, so I can ask uncle Jinwoo to take you.” Dongmin turned to the small light of his life next to him, pouring her some juice and shoving the glass into her hands. “Don’t just munch, sweetheart. You have to drink, too.” he added quickly before the girl could speak up.

“No, dad. I told you last time, uncle Minhyuk told me he’ll take me.”

Dongmin almost laughed at that, his eyes taking the shape of crescents as a smile took up half of his face and he gave his daughter a knowing look. Hani seemed to have a small crush on one of his best friends ever since Minhyuk was introduced to her. It was sort of cute, but the way she jumped at every occasion she could to get his attention and how the girl pretty much stayed glued to the younger man, hanging on his neck whenever he came over to catch up made him a little bit jealous of his friend. That was when Dongmin decided that there shan’t be any men around his little girl for at least ten more years.

A few weeks ago Minhyuk told Dongmin that he’s teaching a kid’s dance class in the studio he worked in and Hani overheard (while eavesdropping, of course). Dongmin couldn't have been prepared for what happened next no matter how many books on parenting he read. Hani followed her father around the apartment every day for almost a week, whining, crying, making up songs and even beats (using Dongmin's favorite sauce pan and a wooden spoon as instruments) about how much she wanted to join uncle “Rocky’s” dance class. By now Dongmin didn't remember anymore why he caved in - was it that his patience ran out or was he just a complete sucker for his daughter? Most likely a mixture of both. 

“Okay. But if anything happens, ask your homeroom teacher to call me,” it wasn’t that Dongmin didn’t trust his younger friend. It was just that Minhyuk would sometimes most likely lose his own head if it weren’t attached to his body. “I’ll come and pick you up after, but if I’m late don’t go anywhere and ask uncle Minhyuk to stay with you until I come, alright?”

She only nodded, diligently drinking her juice while carelessly waddling her legs under the table. Dongmin could only smile, gently patting her head before standing up to collect the dishes.

* * *

 

Yet again, Lee Dongmin was late to pick up his daughter from dance practice.

He really wanted to blame it on the meeting with some prosecutors, who seemed to familiarize way too quickly for his liking and really wanted to drag Dongmin and a couple of his colleagues out for a drink to ‘discuss the case further’. Luckily, he managed to talk them out of it, revealing that he has some important duties to attend to and needs to be sober. The meeting dragged on either way and before Dongmin knew it, it was 8 pm; he had to be at the studio an hour ago.

Rushing to leave, the concerned father completely forgot half of his files and his coat in the office; he ended up huffing and puffing, trying to ignore the heavy drops of rain falling directly on his white button up as he ran to his car. The dance studio was located further away in the city, about fifteen minutes by car, twenty if you all the lights are red, thirty during rush hour. That Dongmin had marked in his head during the first two weeks Hani had been attending Minhyuk's classes.

Time is precious, too, he kept repeating.

By the time he parked and rushed to the dance studio, Dongmin was petrified to see that all the lights in the building were off. He tried opening the door, but he couldn't pry it open no matter how hard he tried - locked. What was worse, there was no indication of any presence around: no voices, no footsteps. The only sound was the heavy drops of rain hitting the pavement.

Getting anxious and his paranoid mind playing with him, he took out his phone and dialed Minhyuk’s number. He pressed the device to his ear with his shoulder, playing with his car keys in his shaking hands as he took steps back to the vehicle, ready to go to Minhyuk’s apartment where his friend probably took his daughter when he realized that her father might take a while to come. But just before he could get into the car, his eyes caught a very familiar blue coat. Blinking a few times, Dongmin slowly ended the call that was never answered, throwing the phone inside his car and squinting, trying to make out what the heavy rain made blurry. It was definitely Hani. Her back was turned and she was taking slow steps away from where Dongmin was standing. What concerned him, though, was the fact that she was holding onto someone’s hand. And that someone definitely looked too tall to be Minhyuk, as he never had to bend his body that much to accustom to Hani’s height.

Alarms started blaring in Dongmin’s head and before he knew it he was running towards them, yelling a rude ‘ya’ at the top of his lungs, which caused the pair to stop and turn around.

The man with Hani seemed to be confused for a few moments, until the girl let go of his hand and waved her hands happily at the person nearing them. “Hi, daddy!” she held her hands towards the man dressed too little for the pouring rain. Even though her coat was completely covered in rain drops, the lean man took her into his arms, wrapping a protective arm around her.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?” Dongmin was in panic mode, looking all over his daughter. “Did this man do anything to you?” then he turned towards the strange man that was just taking his daughter somewhere. He didn’t look like he was a threat. If he were dangerous, the man would have ran away as soon as Dongmin shouted out to them. Nevertheless, the lawyer was alarmed and he took a few steps towards the unfamiliar presence just so he could observe the other better.

The first thing that caught Dongmin’s attention were the chunky black framed glasses that seemed to cover half of the man’s face. His hair looked brown, fringe tossed and laying messily across his forehead, a hat covered the rest of his head that, Dongmin imagined, was lacking neat styling just as much as the front of it did. He was wearing a heavy leather jacket over a baggy grey hoodie and what looked like black sweatpants with some black boots. A sports bag hung on one of his shoulders, so Dongmin assumed that the man might have been someone from the dance studio. The messy man’s shoulders were broad and he seemed to have some muscle on him. That Dongmin noted in his mind with a ‘he could kill me with a flick on my forehead’.

“Who the h-” Dongmin bit on his tongue, peeking at his daughter before turning his attention to the unknown man. “Who are you and where were you taking my daughter?”

The man grabbed onto the strap of his sports bag, awkwardly pacing in place and showing his other hand deep into the pocket of his sweats. “I was ju-“

“Where’s Minhyuk?” another question was shot towards the stranger before he could even answer Dongmin.

“I am his assistant. Sort of. When Minhyuk can’t come in, I teach the kid class.”

“You teach the kid’s class?”

“Yes.”

“So Minhyuk wasn’t even here today?”

“Correct.”

For a moment Dongmin stared into space. He looked like he was calculating something, as you could practically smell his brain frying and see the figures and formulas he saw in front of his eyes. His heart almost stopped beating for a few moments as he tried to peace the pieces he got from the seven second conversation with the stranger. The small amount of information he got from the man seemed to drain any colour from Dongmin's face, leaving him as pale as a piece of paper. Minhyuk was not there. The thought only made him backtrack to breakfast, when Hani said that he was supposed to pick her up along the way and take her to dance practice. Which could only mean that..

“Who took you to dance practice?” Dongmin’s eye’s wide, he was looking at his daughter, who seemed to be dozing off on his shoulder.

“Bnnn.” She mumbled into her father’s neck.

“Who?”

Hani’s small hand stretched out to gesture towards the stranger.

Dongmin felt anger bubbling up inside his chest, heating up the ends of his ears. He was boiling to the point where the atmosphere around him started heating up. He was angry at his daughter for easily following a stranger, he was angry at Minhyuk for not calling or texting him about not being in for the day and he was angry at the  _Bnnn_  guy for... Well... Really no legitimate reason apart for being the subject of this whole mess.

“Hani, don’t sleep.” He shook the girl in his arms slightly until her eyes fluttered open and she whined, rubbing her cheeks with the back of her palms. “Did you go with this stranger somewhere today?”

The man scoffed at what Dongmin was implying. “Ya, I know you don’t know me but do I seriously look like a per-“

“Language!” Dongmin snapped at the man, giving him an icy look before looking back at his daughter.

“That’s not even a bad word.” He murmured, kicking a few pebbles with his foot and earning something in the terms of a ‘shut up’ from the dad.

“He took me to dance practice.”

“In uncle Minhyuk’s studio?”

“Yes.”

“Hani, you followed this stranger just like that?”

“He said uncle Rocky couldn’t come so he came to pick me up.” She whined nonchalantly, her eight year old mind not mature enough to understand the weight of the situation or how much it suffocated her father. Dongmin knew it and he could only shake his head at it. He will have to have another conversation about strangers with her.

“Hani, the car is unlocked. Go and buckle up, we’re leaving soon. I need to talk to this uncle.”

Dongmin watched as his daughter made her way to the car. When the door behind her shut, he turned to the stranger, once again infuriated. If it wasn’t as dark as it was and the rain wasn’t blurring his vision, he would have probably taken a closer look at the man and the reported him to the police.

“What the hell has to be wrong with your brain that you decide to abduct a child like that?”

“I wasn’t abd-“

“Manners! I didn’t finish talking yet!” Dongmin snapped once again in a very father-like manner, something that became a habit to him ever since Hani. He wasn’t keeping his tone low or hiding his anger towards the unknown man, his anger making him look borderline crazy. “What has to go on in your brain for you to ever consider taking someone’s child somewhere. You aren’t a family friend, you don’t know my daughter nor me! What is wrong with you, seriously? Where were you even taking her?” At that, the stranger let out a long breath and Dongmin couldn’t help but laugh at that in desperation. “Seriously? You have the audacity to sigh at me right now? What is your name? I don’t want to anywhere near my daught-“

“Can you shut up for just one second!” the stranger yelled over Dongmin’s loud tone, causing him to take a few steps back, startled. He forgot that grownups bite back. “Look, I don’t know who you think I am or what I did for you to think that way about me, but I was just taking her to Minhyuk’s place because you weren’t coming and I thought that waiting there will be much nicer than in the studio.” His head tilted to gesture at the building. “Why Minhyuk didn’t tell you anything, I don’t know. Maybe he knew that you will turn psycho like this,” he let go of his bag to gesture towards Dongmin up and down. “And didn’t want to deal with it, because I sure as hell don’t. I’m way too tired for this.” He scratched the back of his neck before pulling his hat further on his head. “The point is that I only picked up Hani today because Minhyuk asked me to. I taught the class today, too, and I stayed with her for over an hour waiting for you. But you didn’t show up.”

Dongmin was speechless.

“If you don’t believe me, just call Minhyuk.” The stranger put his both hands up in the air in defeat, taking a few steps back before bowing politely towards Dongmin and turning to leave.

“If this is true he’s dead to me.” Dongmin grumbled, watching the figure become smaller with every second.

“If this isn’t true, he’s even more dead to me.”


	2. Improv-sitter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When your best friend sets you up on a date and no one seems to be able to take care of your daughter. - a book by Lee Dongmin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to quickly update this because I will be busy for the rest of the week.  
> This chapter pretty much displays what the idea of the story is.
> 
> Sorry for swaying from the plot a little bit. I can't help it, I love imagining a father Eunwoo.  
> I hope you enjoy! Sorry if it's a little bit messy and rushed, I got too excited over this idea.
> 
> I promise next chapters will have more Binu!~

The same night Dongmin spent almost three hours talking to Hani about strangers and how to act in front of people she does not know. To shine more light on the serious matter and to make it easier on the eight-year-old to understand, Dongmin came up with rules, which he wrote down on a piece of paper:

  1. > Do not talk to strangers and ignore them if they come up to you;

  2. > If they don’t leave you alone, bow politely and excuse yourself from them;

  3. > If they chase you, run away to a place where there’s a lot of people;

  4. > If they touch you, kick them and run;

  5. > In light of cases 2-4, walk to/run to a place where there is a lot people or go somewhere where people know you. Preferably go inside your school or the bakery we go to on Saturdays. Once there, find a way to contact me . [digits]




* * *

 

It was a mellow Wednesday afternoon and Dongmin had just got back from lunch with a couple of colleagues. All the trials he was signed to were either on Thursday or Friday, so he had more than enough time to relax and go over all of his notes and highlighted portions of the case files without any rush. At least he was supposed to do that, but his plans were quickly ruined by a phone call from the school. The moment his phone was pressed to his ear, he heard a bunch of screams and faint cries of children before a loud female voice came through.

“Hello, am I talking to Lee Dongmin, Lee Hani’s father?”

“Yes, it’s him.”

“I’d like to ask you to come to the school if you are not busy. Hani showed some concerning behavior towards one of her peers today and I would like to talk to you in person about it.”

The first thing he saw when he walked into the classroom was a boy whose eyes were completely bloodshot. There was a long string of snot coming from his nose as he loudly sobbed in the seat right near the door. The sight threw Dongmin off guard as he searched for his daughter, who sat not too far away from the boy. Hani was staring at the desk like it was the most interesting thing in the planet, very obviously avoiding any eye contact. Then Dongmin’s eyes went to the teacher and he bowed greeting her, moving further into the classroom while trying to assess the situation he was called to. Though, he didn’t have a chance to pull a Sherlock Holmes and use his deductive skills, as the teacher beat him to it, explaining that Hani kicked the boy from classroom B when he came up to her and then ran away screaming about how she isn’t allowed to talk to him. Dongmin was baffled, staring at the two children in the room and making an imaginary bullet points in his head of what probably happened.

“She told me that you told her to kick people like that.” The teacher added to her story, crossing her arms and eyeing Dongmin from where she was standing.

“She what?”

“Mister Lee, that is very bad parenting.” The teacher shook her head before continuing. “I am sorry to say this, but if a situation like this occurs again I will have to report you to the higher ups for your questionable parenting skills.”

Dongmin found himself in the middle of a situation he didn’t quite understand himself. He was questioned as a father, but as he nit-picked his memories, he could not find a single flaw in his parenting. Before he signed the papers, he made sure to read almost every parenting book available, he always treated his daughter well, he made sure she ate and dressed well, he made sure she didn’t encounter any negativity or vocabulary that would affect her. She was slowly molding into what Dongmin was – a very considerate and lawful person, so he did not remember what exactly he did to imply that hitting someone was the right thing to-

While his mind was busy trying to figure out what exactly went on, the teacher held up a piece of paper right to his face. It took a few moments for his eyes to focus on the lettering there, but he quickly found that he was looking at a neat handwriting that he recognized as his own. More specifically, those five little rules he wrote down for Hani not even twenty four hours ago.

What Dongmin failed to explain to his daughter was that the rules don’t necessarily apply when it came to her peers. Nevertheless, he felt the corners of his lips tug upwards involuntarily as he turned his gaze towards his daughter. At least she honestly listened to what he told her.

“I am very sorry, this is my mistake. I was so focused on explaining to her of how to act in front of strangers that I forgot to define the actual word.” He explained to the teacher with a polite smile. “I will have a talk with her, this won’t happen again.”

Dongmin slowly moved towards the victim. Kneeling in front of the boy, the girl’s father kept his polite smile. “I am very sorry about my daughter, young man. I- Hani, come here right now.”

He watched how the girl stood up without sparing either one of them a glance. Slowly dragging her feet, she moved to the two guys and set herself right next to her father, softly grasping the back of his collar and pulling on it, a gesture that was more than enough for Dongmin to understand how embarrassed she was.

“What you did wasn’t nice, honey. I-”

“But you-“

“Hani,” his voice became a little bit harsher. Dongmin hated being interrupted. “Manners.” He said with a father like stiffness in his tone as he turned towards his daughter, delicately grabbing her hand that was set on his collar and softly pulling on it, making her step in front on him. Standing up, he laid his hands on her shoulders, leaning down a bit. “I will explain later. But know that what you did is wrong and you should not hit other people. This boy didn’t do anything wrong, did he?”

 “He said hello.”

“He deserves an apology.”

After a few moments she finally managed to mutter a sorry to the boy while Dongmin apologized to the teacher a couple more times.

* * *

 

Dongmin was in the middle of maneuvering his car from the school parking lot when his phone beeped, indicating a text. Hani perked up with an offer to read it to Dongmin, obviously trying to get out of the conversation her father was initiating about violence and strangers.  

“It’s from uncle JinJin.” She informed, nimble fingers swiftly dancing on the screen to open the message up.

“What does he want?” the man behind the wheel managed to huff out, craning his neck to make sure the side of his car doesn’t touch what looked like a really new sports car on his right.

“I’m not sure.” Hani mumbled, looking at her dad with a spark of curiosity in her eye. “He only sent a map link.”

Dongmin pressed the brake, wheels of the car making a loud noise in protest of the sudden action. He didn’t even try to hide the low groan that slipped through his lips from his daughter.

Typical Jinwoo and his stupid blind dates. He has been trying to set up Dongmin with someone ever since his last relationship ended around six years ago. After the messy break up, he made it clear that he will not look for a romantic relationship anymore. But did Jinwoo care? No. Then Hani came into his life, and Dongmin made sure to tell everyone around him once again that that was the **only** relationship he will focus on (not to mention that his schedule is completely crammed and he had close to no time for dating). But did Jinwoo care? _Again, no_. He became even more active, reasoning that now that Hani is a part of his friend’s life, he needs a partner for moral support. Of course, Dongmin always protested giving Jinwoo literal lists of reasons why he was completely fine alone, but the older man professionally ignored the pieces of paper, sending Dongmin three google map links to certain locations in response, all accompanied by passive aggressive smiley faces.

“What’s the matter, dad?” Hani leaned forward from the back seat of the car, reaching her little hand out to place it on Dongmin’s forehead. “You’re getting really red. Are you sick? Does your belly hurt?”

Dongmin found himself smiling at her gesture and moving her hand away from his head, focusing on the road once again. “I’m okay, honey. What time did uncle Jinwoo said to be there?”

Why did Dongmin always go to those dates? Well, firstly because he was scared that if he didn’t, Jinwoo will keep attaching him with even more coordinates every night and more aggressive messages enriched by adult vocabulary. Secondly, because it would be completely and utterly rude not to show up. Ditching someone who obviously was anticipating their meeting was against the lawyer's morals. But even though there were only two reasons marked in his coldly logical brain, there was one more reason he always tried to ignore no matter how hard his conscience tried to push it forward - maybe it would be nice to have another adult in the family. Someone who would keep his head above sea level whenever Dongmin felt like he was going under. And even though he was completely happy and content with his current situation, he loved Hani more than anything, closeness was something he missed. So a small part of him always headed to the dates with a naive belief that maybe he will fall in love.

“Tonight at seven.”

“What now?”

“Seven pm, tonight.”

Dongmin looked at the clock. It was almost three and he still had to drive Hani to the piano lesson, her dance lesson started at six, which in Dongmin time meant five thirty because he had to have a word with Minhyuk about unacceptable behavior involving his daughter. Which would mean that he practically wouldn’t have any time to make himself presentable and would have to go straight from the office or the dance studio, depending on how long his ranting will take. On top of all that, the date is set at seven pm sharp. Which is when the dance lesson ends and there is no way he can pick up his daughter from it. It wouldn’t be that big of a problem if dates only lasted an hour. But they last at least three, therefore Hani needed a babysitter and Dongmin wasn’t sure where he could find one in such short notice.

He spent a whole hour waiting for his daughter trying to call people up and pull some stings to get a person who could look after Hani. Needless to say, he failed miserably and by the time they were on their way to the dance studio, Dongmin figured that the only way the whole set up will work was if he asked his currently least favorite person in the planet – Park Minhyuk, or, as kids called him, ‘Rocky’.

Hani held firmly in his hands, Dongmin stepped into the dance studio only to be greeted by the sight of two bodies dancing and hitting every beat to a hip hop song with ease. One of the people was definitely Minhyuk. The other person Dongmin didn’t recognize, but the man didn’t bother himself with the idea of someone he doesn’t know in the room either. Hani seemed to be thrilled by the sight of the both men, watching them with her mouth wide open. It once again made Dongmin a little bit jealous and he snapped his fingers in front of her nose, getting her attention.

“Look at me! Dad’s way cooler anyway.” He whined, earning a giggle and a childish smack on his cheeks, which she seemed to developed a habit of.

More importantly, his voice seemed to catch the attention of the two men in the room – Dongmin looked back to them only when the music stopped abruptly, seeing Minhyuk almost half way to them and the other man looking towards them from his spot near the small computer in the room, too occupied with cooling his face with a water bottle to join Minhyuk.

“Hey, my favorite student is here.” The dancer was beaming as he neared the small family by the door. His hand stretched out to give the girl a high-five but Dongmin was quicker and turned Hani away from his friend.

“Ya! You don’t deserve a high five, you,” he peeked at Hani in his hands, who seemed to have found a way to stare at Minhyuk, the sight of him leaving her in a complete daze. “Beefcake?” Dongmin ended, unsure of the reason which made him chose that word.

It earned him a light chuckle from Minhyuk.

“Hi, gramps.”

“Gramps? Really?”

“Beefcake? Really?”

“I have a legitimate reason to call you names, Minhyuk. What in the world is wrong with you? Sending a stranger to pick her up?” Dongmin frowned, letting Hani down and focusing all his attention on his friend.

“I didn’t think it will be a big deal, Dongmin.” his tone made it seem like he was in pain – the dancer really didn’t want to talk about it.

“Not a big deal? Minhyuk, are you joking right now? Imagine yourself in my shoes. You go to pick up your child from an activity only to find them with a complete stranger, who is leading them god knows where.” Anger started bubbling up in Dongmin, the tips of his ears burning red as he crossed his arms over his chest in a displeased manner. “Imagine how many images flew through my mind when I saw that. I almost had a heart attack on the spot.”

“Sorry, Dongmin-hyung. I didn’t think it through.” The younger said with a sigh before turning on his heel and heading back towards the mirrored wall.

“Ya! I’m not done yet, you don’t get to walk away from me!” the father’s voice became an octave higher as he followed his friend. “You could have at least sent me a text instead of sending that questionable man to get Hani from school. Where is your common sense? You were always one of the more sensible ones in our group.”

“Dongmin, please. I get it, okay. Stop getting infuriated.” Minhyuk turned back towards Dongmin. “I would never send someone else to get her if I didn’t trust them with my life. Bin isn’t a bad guy.”

“Who?” Dongmin’s brows furrowed.

“Moon Bin.”

“Me.”

Dongmin’s gaze shot from Minhyuk straight to the other man in the room, who sat next to Hani on the floor, legs crossed. He had his right hand raised the air as confirmation that he was the person the the other dancer was referring to.  

“Moon Bin. That’s me. It’s nice to see you again.”

Now that rain wasn’t blurring his vision, Dongmin could finally observe the stranger (Moon Bin, was it?) better. Besides his whole face being red because of the complicated dance routine the pair was working on just minutes ago (or it could have been embarrassment), there was nothing about him that seemed alarming in any way, shape or form. His wide frame that Dongmin could recall from the day before didn’t look as threatening and large without multiple articles of heavy clothing. The way he spoke lacked the hint of annoyance from last night, too. His face was a bit swollen, but eyes stayed wide and fixed on Dongmin, almost waiting confrontation.

He looked borderline innocent and it caught Dongmin off-guard, making him want to turn away without saying anything at all.

“Yes, um.. Hello, I’m Lee Dongmin.” The father manages to huff out, his tongue close to tying.  

“Look, Dongmin. I’m sorry, okay. I don’t have experience with these things. I didn’t think it through.” Dongmin had to yell at himself in his head and put in a lot of mind power in order to peel his eyes away from Moon Bin to look at his friend, as the wide eyes of the stranger from the night before seemed to have locked Dongmin’s gaze in place, refusing to permit him the luxury of looking away. “You know I wouldn’t do it on purpose. It won’t happen again.”

“I know.” Dongmin caved, scratching the back of his head before undoing the buttons of his coat, as the warm temperature in the room (or was it his frustration) got to him. Feeling how hot he was getting, his eyes immediately turned towards his daughter, whose cheeks had noticeably tinted red. “Hani, dear, take off your coat before you get too warm.”

She nodded, hands immediately going to fumble with the buttons of the blue outerwear. All three men in the room observed her small fight with her coat and Dongmin was already reaching out to help her when Bin moved, turning towards her and undoing her buttons for her, helping her with the coat with a quiet ‘let me help you, missy’.

To say that Dongmin was taken aback was an understatement. His eyebrows raised to his hairline, completely hidden under his wind-disheveled bangs and he awkwardly collected his stretched-out hand back to his own body, choosing to take off his tan coat entirely and occupy himself with rolling up the sleeves of his baby blue shirt. It wasn’t something that Dongmin was used to seeing – someone besides him catering to his daughter. Usually because everyone was painfully aware of how terrible Dongmin was when it came to other people caring for Hani in any way, as he always found a way to sneak in a snarky remark about how they did something wrong. It wasn’t that Dongmin was an obsessive control freak. He was just too uptight and particular with how he wanted to do things, caring for Hani included.

Minhyuk quietly observed his friend’s reaction from the side, pleasantly surprised at the lack of a rude remark towards Bin.

“I need to talk to you about something.” Dongmin spoke up, peeking at Bin, who was putting away Hani’s coat and seemed to be immersed in a conversation with her about what she drew in art class that day.

Dongmin’s friend got the hint, tilting his head towards the entrance and they both walked out of the practice room, leaving Hani and Bin alone.

“Can I ask you for a favor?”

Minhyuk raised a brow. Let the guilt tripping begin. “Depends on what the favor is.”

“Jinwoo set me up on a date again. It’s tonight at seven. I need you to look after Hani for me for a couple of hours after the class.”

The only sound that erupted in the hallway was Minhyuk sucking air in between his teeth. “I can’t tonight. I have a date of my own.” A sly smile set of Minhyuk’s lips.

“You? On a date?”

“Says the guy who has been single for how long?”

“I don’t want a relationship.”

“Oh, please. Tell that to someone who hasn’t known you for like twenty years.” Minhyuk rolled his eyes, slightly nudging Dongmin with his shoulder. “Besides, you never say no to Jinwoo’s set ups.”

“You know how Jinwoo is. He will never let me live in peace if I refuse to go on the blind date.”

“True.”

Dongmin sighed, looking up at the ceiling and already regretting his future, which seemed to be filled with a lot of complaints from Jinwoo and a bunch of passive aggressive emoticons. “But I guess there’s a first time for everything. I knew I will have no choice but to suffer Jinwoo’s wrath eventually.” Dongmin offered the younger a sideways smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes before looking down at his feet.

“What do you mean?” Minhyuk turned his whole body towards his friend, placing one hand on the yellow coloured wall and leaning against it.

“I mean, I will have to call Jinwoo and say that I am not showing up. I don’t have anyone to look after Hani.”

Minhyuk stayed quiet for a couple of seconds, his eyes wandering around the hallway before he looked in to the dance practice room through the glass wall that separated it from where the pair of friends stood.

“I know someone who is free to look after her.”

Dongmin’s eyes shot up. “Who?” His interest was sparked, but Minhyuk stayed quiet, his eyes fixed on something. Even though it was obvious of who the dancer was referring to, Dongmin was clueless up until when he followed his friend’s gaze only to see Moon Bin at the end of it.

“No! No way in hell.” Dongmin shook his head.

“Why not?”

“I thought we went over this. He is a stranger. I do not know him, Minhyuk!” Dongmin whisper yelled at his friend, which made him look rather comical, but he didn’t want to scare the children that were walking past them.

“He might be a stranger to you, but he isn’t to Hani!” Minhyuk whisper yelled right back at his older friend. “If you’re so worried, just treat him as a babysitter you just met. Ask a couple of questions.”

“What if he steals something? I don’t want to risk that.”

“What? A box of Fruit loops? Stop looking for excuses, you know I’m right.”

Dongmin didn’t answer, as he was too busy staring at Moon Bin, who by then was surrounded by a bunch of children from the class and was nodding enthusiastically at something a boy with a red hoodie was telling him. He wanted to believe that letting Bin into his house to babysit his daughter was a bad idea. But an angel in the form of his best friend that stood on his right shoulder kept on saying that that’s the only way Dongmin could make the whole situation work. Besides, Bin seemed like he was quite good with children.

“It’s either this or Jinwoo annoying you for three months straight.”

That sentence echoed in the back of Dongmin’s head for a good fifteen seconds and the man found himself caving, his feet moving before his mind did. And there he stood, in between a bunch of children in the dance studio, looking down at Bin who was nested on the ground, chocolate eyes staring right back at him.

Dongmin coughed awkwardly as he realized that he marched into the room too quickly, without thinking about how to approach the subject. It’s not like he could come up to Bin and just straight out say ‘Hi, sorry I implied you were a pervert yesterday. Could you please babysit my daughter tonight because I have a date?’ without sounding like a complete asshole and a terrible father.

“Could you see me outside for a bit?” moving his eyes away from the dancer, Dongmin took quick steps towards the hallway without looking back. From the way the kids stopped chirping, he guessed that Bin was following him.

“I am sorry I was so rude yesterday.” Dongmin spoke up first once they were alone.

“S’okay.” Bin kicked the air, not looking at the man he troubled so much the day before. “It’s your daughter. I understand.”

Dongmin appreciated his empathy, nodding.

“Thanks.”

Silence surrounded them and the atmosphere around the two men became awkward for a few seconds, as Dongmin was too busy searching for a way to approach the subject and Bin seemed to be too interested in the white tiles covering the floor to even look up at the lawyer.

“Would you be willing to look after her for tonight?”

Bin’s eyes shot up at Dongmin. That was the last thing the dancer expected from the man who very openly yelled at him a day ago.

“What?”

“Could you babysit my daughter for tonight?” Dongmin stared at the other, hopeful.

“Are you serious or is this some kind of a test?” Bin looked into the practice room, half expecting to catch Minhyuk starring and laughing at him, confirming his suspicions about the situation being some kind of weird practical joke. But the other dancer seemed to be too busy picking out the music for the class.

“No, I really need someone to watch her for tonight. I have something to attend to.”

Bin felt completely baffled and conflicted as he stood there silently, starring Dongmin down. It freaked the later out to the point where he began fidgeting in place, mumbling some inaudible words quickly before rushing to put his coat on. Something about Bin’s stare made Dongmin’s chest tighten and he couldn’t help but become flustered. 

“Sure.”

Now it was Dongmin’s time to freeze.

“Really?”

“If you don’t yell at me again, I’ll do it.” Bin tried to lighten up the mood but Dongmin seemed to get even stiffer at that. Instead of laughing, the father started apologizing again. “No, no. It’s alright. Stop.” Bin took a few steps back, overwhelmed by Dongmin’s manners. The man was definitely not what Bin expected him to be.

Dongmin didn’t notice that he made the dancer uncomfortable, too busy scribbling something onto a paper and shoving it into Moon Bin’s hands.

“That is my address. Left entrance, third floor, light brown door. Hani has spare keys, so I am not giving any to you.” Words spilled out of Dongmin’s mouth like beans, as his brows furrowed in concentration. He had to make sure he told his improvised babysitter everything he needed to know. “Make her wash her hands as soon as she enters and then cook something for her while she’s in the shower. Hani’s not a picky eater, so if you don’t feel like whisking something up, you can give her some leftover soup from yesterday. It’s in the fringe, second shelf, the orange container. Help yourself, too. No sweets before dinner, though! After dinner, you can give her something delicious of her choice. But no more than three cookies or she won’t fall asleep for the rest of the night and will become hyper. You don’t want that.” Dongmin extended his index finger only to shake it quickly in a ‘no’ manner. “She has to be in bed by eleven, so until then make her do her homework, she can watch a little bit of tv before bed. She sleeps with the lights off but I leave the night light on nevertheless. Oh, and make sure she brushes her teeth.” By the time Dongmin finished talking he had lost his breath.

Moon Bin blinked, slowly nodding as soon as the hallway became silent. He acted as if he understood and took note of every word said to him, when in reality he felt as if his mind was about to fry. How can a person be so thorough and uptight?

“My phone number is on the fridge. If something happens, call me.” Dongmin finally smiled and Bin’s breath hitched at the view. The dancer almost squinted at how light and airy the father’s face became.

“Okay?” Moon Bin murmured to Dongmin’s back, as the later was already taking long strides towards the exit, blowing a couple of kisses at his daughter, who was enthusiastically waving at him from the practice room.


	3. The psycho dad is...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very late on updates, I am very sorry about that. School is kicking my butt.   
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.~

In his thirty two years of life Dongmin had been on his fair share of dates: ones he set himself whenever his heart leaped at the sight of someone, ones others invited him to whenever they found him appealing, and, inevitably, ones that Jinwoo set for him while trying to play Cupid and pretending to know exactly what Dongmin was looking for in a partner. The particular date Dongmin left his daughter in the hands of a stranger for was… Well, honestly, near the good end of the scale.

Dongmin was a little bit late, sixteen minutes to be exact (because in the end he could not let himself show up to a date in work clothes and without a shower), but as soon as he walked into the bar a soft voice of a tall, bleached-haired man greeted him. There was no awkward atmosphere between them, both shared light smiles and some sparkling water – to Dongmin’s surprise, his date was the one who suggested settling with non-alcoholic beverages, as he had duties to attend to and a car to drive later. Conversation seemed to flow easily and by the fourth hour his companion had already spilled that he was four years younger, Thai, came to Korea for an internship at a local hospital and ended up staying after being offered a full-time job.

Just like that Dongmin found himself fawning over the younger. It almost seemed meant to be – his date ended up being a pediatrician. Out of all the doctors in the planet, he had to be someone who cares for children. Unfortunately, Dongmin made the mistake of joking (in a sad attempt to flirt, of course) about how Hani wouldn’t get as uncomfortable getting shots if the doctor was as handsome as the man in front of him. The foreigner got seemingly uncomfortable at the mention of a probable third variable in their possible relationship in the form of a small pre-teen, shifting in his chair and suddenly deciding that Dongmin's eyes weren't as enchanting as he first openly noted, as the man was avoiding eye-contact at all costs.

Jinwoo always told Dongmin to keep himself from dropping the bomb of having a daughter on the first date. But he never listened to the older, as it would simply feel… Dirty. Hani was a big part of his life and there was no way he could keep the idea of her away from his potential partners. Though, looking at the white-haired man that sat right in front of him and feeling the heavy weight of the awkward atmosphere, Dongmin almost regretted the innocent slip. He did find himself growing fond of the doctor exponentially fast.

The date ended quickly after Dongmin’s little joke, as the other seemed to become restless in his seat, excusing himself thirty minutes later with a simple but effective ‘I have an early start tomorrow’. Though, the blonde did ask for the lawyer’s number, and Dongmin’s phone did buzz when he was halfway to his apartment complex, indicating a text. To his surprise, he got an apology for freaking out and a proposal to get some lunch together. He made a mental note to himself to thank Jinwoo.

Dongmin came in through the door of his apartment at almost 11.30 PM. His legs felt like jelly, as the long day got the best of him, tiring him out. His mind buzzed of thoughts that he knew won’t let him fall asleep later. Nevertheless, he was happy about how the day turned out – he reconciled with Minhyuk, the stranger seemed to be trustworthy enough to be allowed to hang around Hani for a couple of hours, and the date set by cupid himself – Park Jinwoo - turned out great. Reflecting, he couldn’t help the content smile that graced his face, tugging the sides of his lips slightly. Though, as soon as he accustomed to the familiar walls of his apartment, his smile dropped.

The sound of high-pitched squeals and giggles reached his ears and Dongmin squinted, eyes travelling to the only light source coming from the open space living room and illuminating the hallway. Kicking off his shoes he moved through the apartment swiftly, his outerwear forgotten.

“What is going on here?” he interrupted, observing the two people in front of his eyes, who froze in place at his presence.

The scene was definitely something – the stranger (well, Bin) was laying on the couch, staring at Dongmin with his head hanging from the end of the furniture, face reddened from all the blood rushing to it. His arms were up in the air along with his legs which were bent slightly and acting as a flat surface for Hani to kneel on, as she grasped onto Bin’s hands for support. The pair looked like they were doing one of those yoga poses meant for couples and failing miserably, as balance didn’t seem to be on their side – Bin’s legs were slightly shaking and the young girl swayed to every side as she tried really hard not to fall off of Bin’s shins.

“Hi, dad!” “Hi, Dongmin!”

The father had to bite on his cheek so he could keep in the laugh that hung off his tongue, dangerously close to escaping. In any other situation Dongmin would have most likely burst into a fit of giggles, because the view he was greeted with looked like something out of a family movie. Though, the strict father side of him refused to let it slip, as, first of all, it was past Hani’s bed time and Dongmin had been very specific with Bin about when she had to be in bed. Secondly, the pure and strangely domestic sight made his heart leap, as it thumped hard enough for him to feel it in his throat, and Dongmin wasn’t sure about the nature of the very specific feeling. Not that he would ever admit to feeling that anyway.

“Honey, why aren’t you in bed?” Dongmin’s voice was calm and there was no sign of any frustration in him. More than anything, looking at what he found in his apartment half an hour until midnight made him worry. What exactly did they do when he was gone?

Hani seemingly became flustered as she struggled to answer her father, choosing to look down at his fuzzy white slippers instead of facing him head on. Dongmin raised Hani to be like a miniature version of himself, therefore he knew was very aware of her schedule. The guilty look plastered on her face seemed to add to the case and gave her away.

“It’s my fault.” Bin picked up his head, bobbing it to the side as a gesture for her to hop off him. She listened well.

Free from the weight of the child, Moon Bin stood up, peeking at Hani with an unreadable expression for Dongmin and a very readable expression for Hani, before turning his attention to face the third person in the room. “She was on her way to bed when I initiated a tickle fight. It turned into a fight fight.”

The father raised his brows, leaning his weight against the archway and thinking over the story. He blinked once, twice, then looked at the watch on his wrist (also realizing that he was still wearing his coat).

“You fought for fourty five minutes?”

“Yes.” They both answered at the same time, their synchronization startling all three people in the room.

As the silence set between four walls, Bin and Hani turned to each other, staring for at least seven seconds. It seemed as if they were having a conversation that only the two of them could hear, as they exchanged meaningful glances. All Dongmin could do was watch the wordless conversation between his daughter and the man that had been looking after her that evening. He wanted to say something, to rush Hani to her bed and to lead Bin out, but he almost felt as if it would be rude to interrupt them.

Before Dongmin could talk himself into opening his mouth, Hani turned to him and seconds later her hands were wrapped around his waist as she wished him a good night, enthusiastically waved to Moon Bin, who was observing the scene with a warm upturn of his lips, and quickly made her way to her room. Dongmin stared at the door behind which his daughter disappeared and couldn’t help but wonder what about the silent conversation the girl and her babysitter shared.

It took a few ticks of the clock for Dongmin to remember that there was another person besides him in the room. He reacted quickly, pushing his weight off the side of the arch. Though, even if he was acticng quickly, looking back at Bin made him freeze.

The dancer was looking at him with the same warm smile that found it’s way onto his face when Dongmin received a hug from his daughter. It wasn’t necessarily uncomfortable to be observed like that, but Dongmin suddenly felt really aware of himself and the quiet in the room. It made him feel slightly flustered and anxious, as he looked down subconsciously. Though, catching himself in a weak moment, Dongmin pretended that that was exactly what he wanted to do, as his nimble hands quickly worked on taking his coat off. When he looked back up, the smile was nowhere to be found and Bin was wearing a neutral expression. For some reason Dongmin felt even worse about the drastic change in Bin’s expression, a heavy feeling setting in the pit of his stomach at the lack of a smile.

“How did it go?” Dongmin broke the silence, gripping onto his coat.

“It was fine. She’s a good kid.” Bin shrugged, picking up his tousled hoodie from the floor and putting it on his shoulders. “A really smart one, too. You’re doing your job well, mister lawyer.” The man laughed lightly, zipping up and placing his hands in the pockets of the plum material.

Dongmin’s eyebrows furrowed in pure confusion.

“How did-”

“Hani likes to brag about you, did you know?” A playful grin spread on Bin’s face and a spark of some sort was in his eye.

Usually, Hani wasn’t that talkative. In fact, whenever Dongmin looked at her, she reminded him of his childhood days. He was rather quiet for his age, more of an observing type who chose to hang out with himself and a book rather than make conversation with his peers. Hani was a little bit more open to socializing, but never to the point where she would be really open to talk to or hang out with an adult. But Bin seemed to have beaten the odds. With that thought in the back of his head, Dongmin was about to inquest Bin, but before he could act, Bin’s shoulder lightly brushed against his as the dancer slipped past him to the hallway.

“Where are you going?” Dongmin shot a question before actually thinking about it.

Bin was already in the process of putting his shoes on when he looked up, confusion plastered on his face.

“What do you- Home, where else.” A laugh accompanied his words, making Dongmin realize how stupid his question was. “You know, for a mister lawyer, you’re pretty clueless.”

Dongmin’s lips open slightly, supporting a round ‘o’ shape as he stared at Bin. “Wait. I do have to pay you for babysitting.”

Five steps later Dongmin set his lean frame in front of Bin, fumbling with the shapeless coat in his hands as he looked through it for his wallet. What he failed to notice was Bin’s lost expression, as his eyes became rounder and hands quickly moved on top of Dongmin’s, stopping his limbs from moving. That earned an almost defensive reaction from the later, as he instinctively moved his hands away from Bin’s, coat falling on the floor while his eyes shot up to look at the babysitter of that night. The unexpected skinship startled him, making heat rise quickly to his neck and ears as Dongmin became more and more flustered after every passing second of silence. He could only thank his past self for not turning the lights on. At least in the dark he could hide the redness of his face away from the stranger.

At least Dongmin wasn’t the only one who suddenly felt uncomfortable. The lawyer’s reaction to Bin made the later shove his hands deep inside his pockets, looking away from the man and swallowing heavily.

“I didn’t come here with the idea of you paying me.” Bin admitted, and the other realized that he never really specified the status of the dancer in his house. “I had fun and ate like half of your food, that’s all I need, really.” One of his hands went up to grip the strap of his spots bag. The sight reminded Dongmin of the night before.

“But you took care of her. Babysitting is hard and I will feel ba-“

“Dongmin,” Bin interrupted, catching the other’s attention and making Dongmin bite on his tongue accidently. “I won’t take your money.” Brown eyes caught Dongmin’s glance and held eye contact for way longer than they should have. There was something about the dancer’s gaze that was endearing, almost intense and just like earlier that day when they met in the dance studio, Dongmin found it impossible to tear his gaze away.

Bin was the one who released him, though, as his eyes fell to Dongmin’s chest before he turned towards the door to leave.

“Let me drive you.”

“What?” Bin glanced over his shoulder at the figure barely illuminated by the lights. The glow around them was just enough for Dongmin to see how dancer’s gaze traveled along his own features, squinting in search of anything that would hint towards him not being serious about it.

“You aren’t taking my money so at least let me offer you a ride home,” despite Bin’s baffled stare, Dongmin managed to keep a soft smile on his face. “I do feel bad for asking you to look after her. You spent a whole evening with her instead of doing whatever else you like and then you don’t take my money. At least let me repay you by driving.” He shook his head, pulling the weight of his tan coat on his shoulders, something that Bin observed from his spot right near the exit of the apartment.

His hands found their way on his chest, crossing there and laying against it as Bin quirked a brow. “How did you know I didn’t drive here?”

Dongmin’s smile widened as if Bin pulled just the right string. “Yesterday you were walking with Hani in the rain instead of rushing to a vehicle. I figured you won’t have a car.” He observed how Bin’s lips opened and closed a couple of times – something that implied that the man wanted to argue but didn’t have the cards for it. “Who’s clueless now.” The father gloated, his eyes turning into crescents as they took steps out of the apartment, each accompanied by a lawful smile and a pair of eyes stuck on it.

Quiet once again set between them as the pair made their way down the stairs and towards Dongmin’s car. It was only when Bin was busy pulling on his seat belt that his company spoke up.

“Where do you live?”

For a couple of seconds Bin stayed quiet, eyes set on the flickering street lamp right outside the apartment complex they were in front. To Dongmin it seemed as if the man was floating somewhere in space, lost in thought. But then he blinked, shaking his head and turning to look at the other.

“You know, I never said yes to you driving me,” Bin sounded like he was trying to defend himself. It only left Dongmin in confusion.

“And yet you are in my car. Waiting for me to turn the engine on and drive you. And I can’t do that without knowing where you reside.” The engine roared, awoken from sleep and Dongmin fumbled a little with the radio before turning it off completely.

Bin once again stayed quiet, as he seemed to be almost too interested in the flickering light than he should have been, his eyes intense and lips tightly shut. The tense stance of Moon Bin caught Dongmin’s attention, as he quietly observed the dancer’s profile, catching how his Adam’s apple bobbed a couple of times. Something told the lawyer that there was a reason to why Bin didn’t want to be driven. And there was another reason to why Bin chose to join Dongmin in the car despite there being the first reason (or maybe it was just Bin being aware that Dongmin won’t let the drive go and will insist until he says yes).

“Moon Bin?” Dongmin asked carefully, leaning his chest softly against the steering wheel while trying to look better at Bin or catch his gaze.

“Just-“ as soon as he spoke up, Bin’s lips pressed tightly again. A minute passed before his voice could be heard again. “Nevermind. Just drop me by the station near Minhyuk’s apartment, near the flowershop. I can walk from there.”

Dongmin blinked, not even trying to conceal his stare. “Are you sure? I really don’t mind driving you up to where you live.”

“No, I don’t-“ Bin started, shooting a glance towards the driver before looking out of the window again. “It’s like a five minute walk from there, I’ll be fine. Wanted to breathe some fresh air anyway.” He hummed without much tone indicating an emotion. It threw Dongmin off completely, but there was a heavy weight on the man’s chest that told him to leave it be and not to ask any more questions.

And so he didn’t.

But it was Bin who spoke up about ten minutes into their drive, as his head swayed to the side so he could take a look at Dongmin. The gaze felt as if it was burning a hole into Dongmin’s cheek.

“You know, you’re not as bad as I thought you’d be,” his tone was light again, almost teasing and Dongmin could only guess that Bin was smiling.

“What do you mean ‘not as bad’?” he almost sounded offended, trying his best to keep his eyes on the street signs and to fight the urge to look at Moon Bin just so he could help his own case. He found that he was more persuasive when he could indulge himself in staring contests. “Never in my life have I received any negative review from anyone, so I can not be ‘bad’ at all.”

A squeal echoed in the car as Bin started laughing at Dongmin. It made the atmosphere around the lighter and Dongmin couldn’t help but smile, keeping his eyes on the road. “What’s so funny?” he let out a low giggle, joining the man in the passenger’s seat.

“You are,” Bin giggled, turning his gaze back to the streets. “After meeting you yesterday I honestly thought you were uptight and crazy.”

“And now?”

“Not crazy. Still uptight, though.”

“I am not uptight!”

That seemed to pull another laugh out of Bin and he once again focused his attention on the driver. “Hani said you take two hours every Sunday to plan two schedules for the week. One for you, one for her.”

They stopped at a red light and Dongmin took that as a chance to finally take a look at Bin and defend himself.

“I am just organized. What’s wrong with that?”

“You literally left a note on the fridge to yourself saying you have to brush your teeth at 11.45 pm sharp.” Bin’s eyes wandered around the car before he found what he was looking for. His arm stretched out so his finger could tap the navigation screen, just where the date and time was shown. “Also, you’re late. It’s 12.23 AM.” Bin’s tone held many various colours that hinted to amusement, comedy, teasing and awe.

The only colour the driver held was an obnoxiously dark red, as it covered his whole face and reached his neck, covering him in patches. The glint in Bin’s eyes said that he found the reaction amusing. For someone who liked to be thorough and organized, Dongmin seemed to be almost too embarrassed about it.

“Doesn’t mean I’m uptight, though.”

“That’s exactly what it means.”

Dongmin pouted but quickly looked away as soon as he witnessed the sides of Bin’s lips turning upwards into a cat-like warm smile and chose to focus on the brightness of the red light instead. He wanted to keep arguing with the man in his car, but the only way he could have won is if he would have told Bin that he left his daughter for a date that evening. And Dongmin didn’t want to say that out loud, as admitting it would feel like admitting to being a bad and selfish father who left his daughter with _literally_ _anyone_ just so he could satisfy his heart with possible warm and mature feelings that he hadn’t felt in a while.

“Do I really give off that bad of an impression?”

Bin’s lips puckered as the car started moving again, eyes leaving Dongmin’s profile to catch the quickly passing view of the asleep city.

“Yesterday you did.” Bin shot an answer quickly, obviously without giving it much thought.

“And today?” Dongmin could only assume that his curiosity grew because of the very mundane need of acceptance and the general nature of a human. Everyone is curious about what other people think of them? Right?

Though, this time Bin stayed quiet, sucking his lips in and chewing on them for a bit. Dongmin could see from the corner of his eye how Bin shuffled in his seat. Out of nowhere the dancer appeared to be way more hesitant than he had been before, stealing a couple of quick glances at Dongmin instead of openly staring like he did just minutes before.

“How honest do you want me to be with you?” Bin’s voice was toned down, quieter than it had been. But despite that, he didn’t sound as uncomfortable as he looked.

Dongmin’s eyes once again struggled to stay on the road and the man shook his head slightly, yelling at himself and reciting the book he read about safety in the road in his head for a couple of seconds before speaking up. “I’m a lawyer. Handling honesty is my job. And I am pretty good at my job.” Dongmin singed lightly, leaving his modesty in the cold of the night.

Despite the open invitation to speak his mind, Bin stayed quiet for the rest of the ride. The flame of curiosity burned Dongmin from inside bit by bit, growing hotter after every time he tried to get the answer from Bin by reassuring the dancer that he won’t get mad and throw him out of his car. But Bin seemed to have his mind set on keeping quiet and not revealing what Dongmin wanted to know.

Bin and all of his belongings were out of Dongmin’s car as soon as they reached the station near Minhyuk’s apartment. The passenger seat door was open, letting cold wind make it’s way into the car, the freezing gusts playing with the raven black hair of the man behind the wheen. Bin crouched slightly to take a look at Dongmin before bowing and making sure to say a couple of polite thank yous for the ride. Dongmin’s lips parted as he wanted to once again ask about what Bin left hanging in the air in the car just minutes before, but Bin beat him to it, saying a quick goodbye and shutting the door. All the driver could do was stare at Bin’s receding figure as he took quick, long strides away from the car and disappeared between some houses.

A handful of minutes later Dongmin was back in the warmth of his apartment. He made it a priority to check on Hani before making his way to the bathroom to get ready for bed. But the buzzing on his phone caught his attention. Furrowing his brows, the man stared at the small device from his spot near the sink. Who would write him at such an ungodly hour? Work? Letting his toothbrush hang in his mouth, Dongmin took the phone into his hands, focusing on the message.

>   **[From: Unknown number, 1:34 AM]** honestly the first thing that came to my mind today when i saw u was //the psycho dad is kinda hot//

Dongmin chocked on toothpaste.


	4. The conflicts of a heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO LATE SORRY?~ I also did not edit this chapter, so I apologize for any mistakes I left. ;;
> 
> I have a couple of chapters written down for this, though. Next one is going to be all Binu , I promise!~

To say that Dongmin marked the passing days on his calendar while waiting for any signal from the doctor wouldn’t be that much of an exaggeration – he did rather specifically remember the exact number of days the doctor didn’t contact him to follow up on the lunch proposal. He managed to count up to four fingers when on an early Sunday morning his phone rang. The disrupting sound made the apron-wearing orange-squeezing man jump in place, as the vibrant coloured substance threatened to spill from the container, dangerously close to staining his white apron or baby blue striped shirt he wore underneath. Despite his lack of languid movement and being as stiff as a rock, Dongmin managed to steady the glass and jtuggle his phone all at once, earning a very light giggle from somewhere behind him, as a pair of sparkly black eyes stared at the figure working in the kitchen.

“Don’t laugh at me, missy,” his eyes turned into crescents as he turned slightly towards Hani. He took his time to start talking to whoever was on the other side of the line – despite picking up the call, he took a couple of seconds to playfully threaten his daughter. A delightful giggle lingered between them before Dongmin managed to squeeze in a questioning ‘hello’ to whoever decided to call him at ten in the morning on a Saturday.

Once a deep tone hit his eardrums, Dongmin’s smile faded. Quickly wiping his hands off on the apron, he took his phone away from his ear to check the caller ID, even though he was more than aware of who was calling him. Then he turned around, leaning against the kitchen counter as he trapped the phone between his ear and shoulder, hands crossing on his chest and eyes subconsciously travelling to his daughter. The only words he caught was ‘lunch’ and ’12.30 am’.

“I… Hello,” Dongmin repeated after a couple moments of silence, just to indicate that he was there and listening.

“I’m not sure. I’m not going to lie, I expected the lunch to happen on a workday.” With that he saw Hani perk up from her seat behind the table, as she questioned her father’s words loudly. The voice that was speaking to him on the phone and the voice of his daughter made chaos form in Dongmin’s head. He couldn’t exactly digest a single sentence by either one of the parties. “Honey, I’m talking right now- Yes, lunch. I’m not sure.” Dongmin turned back towards the counter, working to clean up as he thought over the idea of having a lunch date on a weekend. “As you remember, I have a daughter. And I am very sure that neither one of my friends or my parents will be able to take care of her today. I am not sure how this would work.” His tone was quiet, as was trying to hide the plan from a pair of curious ears.

Silence took over the other end and Dongmin felt how his breath caught in his throat, anticipating the answer from the attractive foreign doctor that he met just a few days ago. As the seconds filled with quiet passed, Dongmin managed to wash some dishes and take the freshly squeezed juice to plant it in front of his daughter. He was beginning to think that the other ended the call when a voice spoke up again.

“Just take her with.”

Dongmin’s phone almost slipped out from between his cheek and shoulder, as the man was too busy gawking at the offer the doctor made. He quickly grabbed onto the device, securing it in place, as his eyes traveled around the surface of the table and set on Hani, who at the time was playing with the glass of orange juice, eyes staring right back at her father.

 It wasn’t exactly what Dongmin expected when he received an official date of the lunch with the white-haired, almost godly looking man. His rational mind weighed his options and naturally travelled to the idea of rescheduling to a different date. It never occurred to Dongmin that the man who got so seemingly uncomfortable at the mention of a third party in their possible relationship would be so open to having that third variable there… On their second date. And, if Dongmin was completely honest with himself, as much as he appreciated it, even the idea of bringing her along made him feel uncomfortable. Mostly because somewhere in his heart he was screaming at himself that the man is doing this out of complete politeness and if he could avoid meeting Dongmin’s daughter, he would.

But the wait had been wait too long and frustrating to say an abrupt no.

“Are you sure? Won’t it be a little weird?” Dongmin cleared his throat, leaning back in his chair and avoiding the curious glances from his daughter. “You didn’t seem comfortable just talking about it and now you want us all to meet?” extremely aware of how he cannot go into that much detail about the doctor’s reaction to his daughter while she was in the same space as him, the father found himself filtering put words and looking for ways to discuss the situation with the doctor without making a certain eavesdropping daughter of his understand that the conversation was revolving around her.

“I’m fine, seriously. The café I was planning of offering you to go to has a kid’s playground anyway. I’m sure she will want to go and play instead of sitting with a bunch of grown up men.” The man on the other end was quick to defend his reasoning.

No matter how charming his voice sounded, no matter how vibrant and bright the man stood in Dongmin’s imagination, no matter how wide his smile was when (Dongmin imagined, judging by the tone of the man’s voice) he said those words, shaking of the “problem”, it came off as ignorant. Therefore, slight annoyance started bubbling up in the father’s chest. To Dongmin that sentence translated to ‘Bring your daughter I don’t mind because we can get rid of her anyway’.

“You know, we can meet up any other day.” The man huffed from his seat, combing is fingers through his neatly laid out bangs, as he suddenly was trying to get out of the date. Without realizing it, Dongmin chose to ignore the doctor’s intentions towards his daughter and completely forget them as he meets the doctor any other day.

Unfortunately, Dongmin’s date seemed to be set on the Sunday.

“No, seriously. Let’s meet up, I’ll text you the address.” With some quick goodbyes the call ended. The doctor did also manage to squeeze in a ‘Can’t wait to see you again’ and as Dongmin closed his eyes after the call ended, leaning his head back and letting it free fall on the back of his chair, he felt torn. A part of him found those last little words endearing and he felt excitement rush to his fingertips. Even his leg started bouncing under the table – and indicator that the usually uptight lawyer felt giddy. But another part of him, a bigger part of him, to which Dongmin didn’t want to admit, was still annoyed and offended. Because that sentence alone showed complete ignorance to the other person who will come along with Dongmin. To the love of his life.

* * *

 

The lunch itself ended up being not as bad as Dongmin expected it to be. The white-haired man was just as handsome as in his memories, the slight accent mixing with lisp making even simple words as ‘coffee’ or ‘day’ roll off the doctor’s tongue like honey. It had the lawyer hanging onto his every word, asking multiple questions at a time just so he could hear the voice that seemed to be music to his ears again. Though, the pleasure seemed to be one sided, or so it seemed as Dongmin observed the man’s expression and the constant glances at the girl glued to her father’s side.

Yes, she was stuck to Dongmin, as Hani didn’t move from her seat in the end of the booth near the window for over an hour. Right from the moment they stepped into the café and sat down, instead of running along to play with other kids the girl chose to keep still in near her father, playing with her feet under the table and kicking both of the men in the process of it. Dongmin’s date even tried to sell the playground to her, encouraging her to go ahead and go play with the other kids while he buys her some kind of a milkshake of her choice. To that, Hani shook her head and proceeded to avoid eye contact with the white-haired doctor like she usually did with any presence she was unaware of. And that was the only perk of those two hours in the café – despite being a complete gentleman, holding great conversation and having a great taste in food, the doctor either ignored the third person in the cabin, or he tried to get rid of her by talking about how much fun playgrounds are. In the light of that, Dongmin found himself tearing up even more; on one hand, he hasn’t found anyone that exceeds his expectations like the foreigner did in a really long time and he found himself wanting to keep whatever was going on between them going. On the other hand, his close to perfect date had zero interest in his daughter, who will always be the apple of his eye, and he can not continue seeing anyone who viewed Hani as an obstacle.

Despite two sides him playing tug of war, Dongmin didn’t hesitate to accept the other’s offer to grab some coffee on Monday – somewhere inside the desperate father lied naïve hope that the man will warm up to Hani eventually.

Though, there was another obstacle he didn’t quite consider until the pair parted ways with the foreigner and him and Hani were on their way home.

“Dad?”

“Mm?”

Though the mirror Dongmin saw Hani fiddling with her belt as she was trying to say something to him.

“Who was that man?”

Dongmin blinked a few times, not really sure how to go about the situation to his daughter, as he never really thought about or had the chance to introduce her to one of his dates. In his mind, the father cursed himself for jumping into seeing the man so quickly, before figuring out how to explain it to Hani.

“He’s a friend of dad’s. A children’s doctor. Like miss Kim, who we visit every summer.”

Hani stayed quiet for a couple of moments before whining something incoherent and mumbling under her breath. By then Dongmin’s eyes were already focused on the road, though the atmosphere seemed to get heavier the more buildings they passed in silence. Or at least the young dad felt like it did and he couldn’t help but subconsciously grip the wheel tighter.

“Honey, what did we talk about mumbling?” They stopped at a red light, so Dongmin took the chance to turn and look at his daughter from the driver’s seat.

She snapped the belt a couple of times and it hit her shoulder with a loud snap.

“We don’t do it.”

“That’s right. Now repeat.”

“I just meant like.. _Who_ is he?”

That’s when Dongmin knew that she wants to know who exactly he was to her, not to him. And he found himself struggling to answer, his mind bubbling with a variety of thoughts and a full list of possible answers he could give her. Because everyone who Dongmin ever introduced to his daughter had a direct connection to her, like her uncle Jinwoo, her uncle Minhyuk, her doctor Lee, her teacher Kim, her grandma, her granpa, her aunt. Her, her, her.

Her.

And the doctor was... Well… Nothing.

The thought of introducing him as another uncle to her crossed his mind in the couple of minutes of silence he took to think things through. Though, that idea he himself wrote off because in the light of the possibility of his life turning so that he would, in fact, end up becoming something more than just a date to the doctor, Hani calling him uncle would make Dongmin feel weird.

“Why do you ask, honey?” He was facing the front again, pressing on the pedal. Dongmin never thought that a situation like the one he found himself in would make him feel as uncomfortable as he felt right then.

“I don’t know.. He’s weird.” Hani mumbled once again, this time enough for Dongmin to catch her words. Though, this time his mind was too preoccupied thinking about the whole situation to care about reminding her of his feelings about her keeping up the manner of speech.

“Weird? Why?”

“I don’t know, he just is.”

“Honey, he’s just not from Korea, maybe that’s why you find him weird.” Finally a reasonable explanation popped into Dongmin’s head and his heartbeat slowed down. “His culture is a little different than ours, but we have to accept that. That is why the world is such a beautiful place. There is a lot of diversity.”

From the corner of his eye he saw the reflected view of Hani shaking her head with a pout.

“I see people like that all the time on TV, dad. They speak different languages and don’t usually eat like we do, but that’s not weird.” The girl puffed from her seat, eyes moving to look at the buildings they were passing. “But that mister is.”

Right then there was one particular question hanging off of Dongmin’s tongue. A question that he didn’t really need an answer to, as he knew it in the back of his heart because he knew his daughter better than he knew himself. A question that slipped past his lips only after a long conversation he held with himself in his mind. It came out only when they were at home, lounging in the living room.

His eyes were watching Hani cautiously.

“Didn’t you like the mister, Hani?”

His heart sank watching her shake her head without even thinking about it. Not that he expected a different answer, he knew that she didn’t like him as much as he did as soon as they were in the car and Hani didn’t immediately start talking about him like she did with most of his other friends.

Despite knowing that, Dongmin still ended up going to grab that coffee with him. And he still called up Minhyuk on a Thursday, asking for him to watch Hani for the evening, even offering to pay for his gas as long as he stays with her until Dongmin comes home for yet another date with the doctor. At first he felt bad because it seemed to him like he was going against his daughter. And with every drink he shared that night with the doctor, becoming the philosophical drunk he was, his mind travelled miles only to find that he wasn’t necessarily going against his daughter per se. No, it was even worse -he was going against a major part of his own heart and stone hard logic, as, despite being attracted to the man, he knew that the man only wanted him, but not the “baggage” he carried.

The depressing thoughts in his mind drowned and danced in bubbles the whole evening, making Dongmin take unstable steps to the third floor of his apartment complex. What was usually a two minute walk for a sober man, the tipsy Dongmin took around fifteen minutes to get to his door, as the multiple flights of stairs seemed to have multiplied and the keyhole kept running away from him and moving around as soon as he tried to get the key in and unlock the door. He didn’t even drink that much. He just didn’t handle liquor well.

The clock hit 2 in the morning when Dongmin finally managed to get the door opened and have his frame nearly fall into is apartment. Right after he found himself taking off his shoes while still standing and struggling not to fall on one of the furniture pieces or make much noise, as he was set on not waking Hani up and letting her see the disheveled mess that was her father. He put away his outerwear as neatly as one with an unclear mind could and took steps towards the blue light coming from the living room. All of the other lights were off, which to Dongmin meant that Hani was defnintely asleep and Minhyuk is watching TV in the living room.

“Minhyuk, I am-“ Dongmin pushed his weight into the open plan living room, looking around at the blurry, dark shadows of furniture before flopping his weight on the love seat. “slightly-“

“Shhh.”

Dongmin bit on his lips as soon as he was shushed, eyes travelling to the source of the sound.

At first he found what he saw confusing. He had to take a moment to blink his drunk away in order to process the view. Firstly, his eyes spotted his daughter sprawled on the couch. She was covered with at least five superhero blankets. Her head laid on the rough material of Minhyuk’s black jeans and the palm of his hand was covering her ear, most likely from the noise Dongmin was making. The sight made a fond smile grow on Dongmin’s face, as the man appreciated how considerate of the little girl his friend was being. Dongmin’s grateful eyes slowly traveled along Minhyuk’s frame in attempt to catch his eyes and offer proper thank you only to find that Minhyuk… Was not Minhyuk.

Mouth agape, he stared at the face that had carved itself into his memory the week before. Yet again he was caught off-guard by his eyes, the same pair of chocolate eyes starring at him from behind the same thick rimmed glasses he wore back then. And that same pair of familiar eyes, the same gaze Dongmin kept catching quite often made the dad freeze in place and hold a breath in, just like it always did.

Bin seemed to understand what was going on in Dongmin’s mind rather well, as he spoke up almost immediately after he’d seen the light of realization shine off of the other’s face. Or maybe he just didn’t want to get in trouble again.

“Minhyuk stayed until like 10 PM and then called me up to switch because he wanted to go somewhere with the noodle boy he is seeing.” Bin explained his presence quietly. “And I didn’t have much to do so I agreed to come over and help him out. So here I am. I did it partly because I like Hani, partly because that kimchi you have is delicious. Do you buy it?” the man started blabbing away excitedly and the lawyer stared at him from his seat, baffled.

“I.. Make it?”

“I knew it,” Dongmin could swear he saw lights of excitement flicker in Bin’s eyes. The man was nothing like the one in his memory – there Bin remained quite stoic and confusing. Maybe as Dongmin was drunk on alcohol, Bin was drunk on late hours out the night. “Nothing is more delicious than home made stuff, because it’s always made with love, you know.”

Dongmin starred at the other man’s teeth as he kept grinning while staring back at the drunk father. It was confusing to the later – how exactly did he go from being completely drunk and seeing three keyholes on one door to being completely sober (minus the smell of alcohol coming off of him), hyper aware of Bin’s stare AND talking about his kimchi in the middle of that.

Nevertheless, the father didn’t think about it too much, as his eyes dropped from Bin’s mouth to his daughter, who was deep in dreamland. She seemed very at peace while curled up to the dancer’s side. One of her arms wrapped around his knee and the other stretched out to hold onto Bin’s hand, which the later didn’t seem to mind, as his hand was holding her much, much smaller one too. The pair seemed so.. Comfortable. And once again Dongmin felt that feeling from a couple of days ago. It was the same feeling that crept up to him and took him by surprise when he saw Bin and Jani playing whatever it was they were playing on the couch. Dongmin felt… Warm.

“Hello, Dongmin?” Bin called out to the lawyer once again, making his eyes snap back to him and catching his full attention.

“Were you saying something?”

“Yes,” he laughed silently, eyes turning into moons. “You just seemed tense, so I thought that maybe I should explain what we did when I got here so your mind would be at ease and you’d finally stop thinking that I’m a creep.” the hand that moments before was holding the smaller one of Hani’s went up to scratch the back of his neck, as Bin messed up his already messy hair to the point where you could see the tangles in it. Then it went back to it’s original place, gently squeezing the sleeping girl’s hand. Dongmin didn’t miss any of that. “I got here at ten in the evening, by then Hani had already eaten. When Minhyuk left, I gave her three candies from the glass jar and ate like half of it myself, sorry. Then she wanted to watch some TV, so we watched some kind of a children’s movie. She ended up becoming really hyper, so I turned on some music and made her dance around for a bit while she brushed her teeth to tire her out. Though, she didn’t want to go to bet yet, so we made a deal that we will look through the manga I brought with me together and then she will go to sleep. But I lost her about two pages in at around 12 AM. And since she fell asleep like this,” he gestured towards her. “I didn’t move an inch.”

Dongmin stared at Bin in awe, as the dancer recited their night to the father, scrunching his nose and furrowing his brows as he tried to remember the details. The father was appreciative of it. So much that he felt a sigh of relief leave his nose, knowing that his daughter was in good hands and once again kicking himself from jumping to unholy conclusions the night he first met Bin.

“Thank you.” Dongmin smiled slightly from his seat.

For a moment Bin participated in a silent staring contest with the other before clearing his throat and looking back at the TV. “My pleasure. It’s always fun to hang out with her.”

The room went silent as both of the men starred at the TV screen, watching a rerun of Running man at 2:30 In the morning as a smaller figure slept. Dongmin probably somehow managed to weigh the situation, as he remembered that Moon Bin was a guest and probably wanted to go home. Therefore, the man stood up, walking to the pair. His eyes were focused on the little one, ignoring the burning sensation he felt on his cheek – Dongmin was positive it was once again that stare of Bin’s making his skin fry. Carefully, Dongmin collected her onto her arms, whispering that he is going to put her to bed.

Coming back to a light room and Bin collecting his things wasn’t a surprise to Dongmin – it was exactly like that last time, too. There was no sight of the bubbly Moon Bin left, as his face stayed almost stone cold, eyes travelling around the room to see if he didn’t miss anything. His gaze never really searched for Dongmin’s nor did Bin say anything, but the other did not miss how the dancer’s eyes stopped right around him.

What Bin allowed himself to look at for more than a couple of seconds had the other terrified as soon as realization hit. Moon Bin was staring at the small communication device Dongmin was holding in his hand.

The message.

The stupid, weird, yet highly satisfying message Dongmin had received from Bin was left unanswered. And so along with the awkwardness in the room grew the rosy tint on the lawyer’s cheeks. He wanted to write something back, but he was not sure what would be an appropriate answer to a statement like the one Bin handed to him on a silver platter. Therefore, Dongmin didn’t, choosing to forget about it instead, the possibility of once again meeting and communicating with Bin in such a small amount of time never crossing his mind.

“Sorry I didn’t wri-“

“It’s okay, forget about it.” Bin smiled softly, peeking at Dongmin’s face before leaning down to grab his sports bag and moving towards the hallway.

For some reason, Dongmin panicked while watching the other gather his things, dismiss the apology offered and heading towards the exit. The feeling mixed with a hunch that he will not be able to sleep that night after his date and the alcohol had Dongmin vomiting words out of nowhere.

“Would you like to have a drink with me?” maybe he just didn’t want to be alone. Or maybe, just maybe he put the offer on the table because Dongmin’s slightly tipsy mind was a little bit affected by the cute sight he came home to earlier. Though, the question seemed to catch Bin off-guard, as confusion carved onto his features and the man almost dropped his bag. “I could use some company, if you don’t mind. You could crash on the couch or something.” Dongmin cleared his throat. “I mean, if you want. I guess you are tired and probably want to go ho-“

“What’s on the menu?”


	5. Conversations

Quiet set between the two figures lounging next each other behind a table, both staring in front of them as the only noise was the one their glasses made while they kept sipping from them and then putting them back down on the light brown wooden surface. It had been like that for almost five minutes and Dongmin couldn’t deny how awkward he felt. His eyes kept wandering along the kitchen counters to the obnoxiously white fridge that had various magnets, notes and pictures of him and Hani on it. In other words, his eyes traveled anywhere but the man next to him.

Dongmin’s ears focused on the silence too much, catching the barely audible sigh that escaped Bin’s lips. The soft puff made his eyes finally travel towards the dancer, looking over his profile that he could make out in the dark (courtesy of the moonlight). The other seemed completely unaffected by the atmosphere. Or he just chose not to feel the weight of it, a small smile nesting on his face while he kept his gaze somewhere along the fridge.

“Your home is nice, I really like it.” Dongmin followed Bin’s gaze to the fridge, presuming that he was looking at the pictures just like Dongmin was a few seconds ago. “It’s very homey.”

“Thank you,” the other cleared his throat, thankful for the lack of tension in Bin’s tone. “It’s as good as it can get considering what I earn,” he hummed, eyes travelling along the lines of the wooden table and up to the ceiling where a single lamp bulb hung.

In the corner of his eye Dongmin noticed Bin shaking his head. “That’s not right, you can’t be living with the idea that you’re lacking.” A small gust of wind hit Dongmin’s cheek and he could only guess that Bin turned to look at him. “That’s not the right way to live.”

He felt Bin’s eyes on him, but there was no more tension in him in response to his gaze. His cheek didn’t burn like it usually did whenever the dancer looked at him. Maybe it was the darkness between them that made Dongmin forget the tension that he usually found in the eyes of the other that made it impossible to look away. Having forgotten the feeling, he turned towards Bin, his words words making a small laugh of Dongmin’s fade into the quiet room.

“So what, you’re telling me that you are living without thinking of how you could do better?”

The question made Bin turn silent as his eyes traveled around the face of his drinking buddy for the night, as if trying to read something off of it in the dark room. If he hadn’t seemed tense before, now Dongmin’s words definitely stirred some kind of an emotion in him, as Dongmin watched how Bin’s eyes jumped around his own features rapidly. The sight made Dongmin frown and tilt his head in sheer confusion as to why a hypothetical question made Bin so jumpy. Though, his companion took notice of that micro emotion in the other’s face and looked away, letting Dongmin’s eyes focus on his profile. He watched how Bin’s jaw tensed a couple of times and he swallowed.

“Still..”

“Still what?”

“Just.. Still.” Bin didn’t look back at Dongmin, choosing to straighten his frame in his seat instead. “You can’t really live like that or you’ll never be really happy.”

There were a lot of questions in Dongmin’s head, as that time he was the one burning holes into Bin’s skin. Where was Bin coming from? What made him pick out those words? Why did he suddenly become so depressed?

Bin cleared his troath, leaning on the table on his elbows. It was very obvious that he caught on to which direction Dongmin’s mind was heading, finding a way to disturb Dongmin’s thoughts before he finds a way to properly word what was going on in his head.

“I just mean that you should focus on the positive. Hani, for example.”

Dongmin couldn’t help but smile at the mention of the little human that occupied his heart.

“Oh, trust me, I definitely focus on her.” he laughed lightly, sipping from his glass. His eyes naturally went to look at the pictures again. If it weren’t for Hani, he would have never gotten himself out of his own comfort zone, he would have never really known what it was like to care, he would have never experienced love in it’s purest form. Dongmin also would have stayed in a one room bachelor pad, the would probably be somewhat depressed because of loneliness, he would still work in the small law firm where he made barely over the minimum wage. But his life was flipped upside down once Hani showed up in it. “A big part of what you see around us right now is because of her. A lot has happened to me because of Hani.”

“See!” Moon Bin’s loud voice cut’s through Dongmin’s calm tone and echoes in the dark apartment. Realization hits moments later and Bin smacks a hand over his mouth, eyes shooting to the entrance to the open area. Both of the men stare towards the dark hallway in silence for a couple of seconds, waiting for any noise of a door opening. Or screaming. Or both. But as nothing reached them, Bin puffs out a long breath of relief.

“I’m sorry. I forgot what time it was.” Moon Bin admits, shaking his head apologetically.

“It’s fine, she didn’t wake up anyway.” The father’s eyes linger on the arched doorway before turning to Bin to find him already looking.

Dongmin imagined that in any other case a person would get embarrassed when caught starring. But Moon Bin once again proved that Dongmin had a lot of misconceptions about people, as instead of shying away the boy smiled a contagious smile that the other couldn’t help but reflect.

“See, you don’t need that much to be happy,” with a satisfactory hum, Bin turned away. It almost seemed as if he had proven a point to Dongmin of which the later wasn’t aware.

Bin seemed to drown in the winner mindset while Dongmin played with his glass, spinning it around and watching the moonlight coming from behind them reflect off of it. For once, he felt completely himself next to Bin and once it hit him, it was both, alarming and quite nice. Nobody should really trust a person and let them into their homes after a week of acquaintance. Let alone ask them to stay for a drink. Though, Dongmin figured he wasn’t really in a state to judge his own decisions towards Moon Bin, as he did allow his one time date to meet his daughter just because he was selfish.

“I don’t know if this is weird to ask,” Moon Bin spoke up again, breaking the chain of thoughts in Dongmin’s head. “But.. How did Hani? You know..” It was the first time Dongmin heard Bin stuttering and struggling to form a sentence.

“How what?” looking at his guest, Dongmin tried to decipher what he had in mind. Though, there was a hunch.

“You know,” Bin whined. “What happened to her mum? How did she come… To be?” the man’s tone got higher with every word. It made an amusement laugh leave Dongmin’s lips before he turned away from Bin and started considering how to properly answer the question. He had never really discussed it with anyone except his parents, Jinwoo and Minhyuk. Those were the four people who actually knew everything right from the start. Why Dongmin never told about it to anyone else was determined by the fact that no one else asked him about it. They either labelled him as a single dad and left him be, some had a tendency to ask him to ‘give Ms. Lee a greeting’ from them, others swayed to more inappropriate conclusions, labelling him as a one timer who messed up and now had to deal with the consequences. Everyone had a perception of Dongmin as a father, but never cared enough to dig in further.

The view of Dongmin’s pursed lips and how his eyes moved from one counter to another made Bin more uncomfortable than he was. The man started muttering something along the lines of how Dongmin didn’t have to answer him.

He was right. Dongmin didn’t _have_ to. He _**wanted**_ to.

Maybe it was the alcohol running in his veins.

“Yes, she has a mum.” Dongmin giggles as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The statement caught Bin’s attention, as he turned towards Dongmin in a sudden motion.

“She does?”

“Of course.”

“So where is she?”

Dongmin can only shrug at the question.

“I wouldn’t know that.”

“What?”

“What?”

Bin seemed baffled as he whined a note loudly, picking up his drink and taking a sip before resting his cheek on the cold glass, eyes still focused on the tipsy, slightly red host. Dongmin didn’t need to be a detective to figure out that Moon Bin was very confused and trying to process the information he got in the span of a few seconds and make it out into a full story.

“Then.. Where did she go?” Bin tried again, rephrasing the question.

Dongmin laughed at the petty attempt.

“I still don’t know that.”

For a moment, Bin resembled a lost puppy – his head tilted a little bit, blinking. Even though the answers were obvious to Dongmin, for some reason Bin seemed incapable to let go of the idea of a mother.

“Moon Bin, I’m not her real father, if that’s what you’re asking.”

One could have probably seen the puzzle pieces falling into place in front of Moon Bin’s eyes if they looked hard enough. His mouth slightly agape, he managed to whimper out a light ‘oh’ before nodding a couple of times – a sign of a proper understanding of the situation.

“I would have never guessed that. She’s just like you,” the dancer admitted. “I guess you raised her, so of course she’s like you. Or at least like I imagine you are. But you two even look alike, so I only ever considered… You know.”

It wasn’t the first time Dongmin received comments about how they look alike, so he could only nod. The only explanation he could find for it was that saying he heard once in law school, behind which hides the idea that after people are together for a long time and genuinely care for each other, they start becoming more and more similar. Maybe that was why nobody really questioned Dongmin’s title as a father.

“But why did you.. Adopt?”

 _Oh_.

Dongmin did not consider the possibility of that question coming up from someone who barely has anything to do with him, despite looking after his daughter. It set triggers off in the father’s brain, and he absentmindedly turned towards Moon Bin to search for answers of his own, because if the question before wasn’t something that Bin should poke his nose at, the recent one was even more so like that.

“Why do you ask?”

Bin’s shoulders move up and down, but there’s an undeniable sparkle of curiosity mixed with something else in his eyes. Awe?

“Just.”

Biting on his tongue, that time Dongmin found himself considering whether he should give out a real answer or just lie. He could have also brushed off Bin completely, but something in his not completely right mind had him strike out that option first.

Even if his mind fried, a peek in Bin’s direction threw the tipsy man over the edge and he found himself spilling the lightest form truth.

“I was just… Very lonely,” Dongmin started, looking away from the curious pair of eyes that followed his movement. “I came to a point in my life where I wasn’t really going anywhere anymore. No studies to occupy myself with, a badly ended relationship that exed out any possibility for me to even consider dating back then, a job that had no perspective, Minhyuk found his love for teaching so we stopped hanging out, Jinwoo found his love for Myungjun so we stopped hanging out. It felt like I was going nowhere. I kept at it for a couple of years but there was just so much I could bear.” Dongmin stopped to take a breath, as he hadn’t realized that one kept getting stuck in his throat.

Bin’s eyes never moved from Dongmin. He carefully observed the lawyer, nodding here and there to remind Dongmin of his conscious listening.

“So before I turned thirty, I spoke with my parents about it. Then I informed Jinwoo and Minhyuk, too, just so they don't get shocked when I turn up with a child in my hands one day.” Dongmin stopped to look up at the ceiling as he made a funny face towards it. “Come to think of it, back then all of them thought I was losing my mind. Now they understand, but back then, I think, it was really hard for them to realize how a big part of who I was had been taken away from me because of how lonely I felt. Ever since Hani, I feel a lot brighter and happier. She brought that part of me back without realizing it and now my family sees it. Not back then, though. So much that I even hesitated to sign the final papers.”

“But you did.”

“But I did,” Dongmin nods.

“Discouraging you so much that you started considering whether your own choices are right is not really family like.” Bin spoke up, sharing his thoughts with the host.

It seemed as if Dongmin smiled to himself, as he never looked back towards Bin. But the delicate upturn of the lips was, in fact, dedicated to Bin as much as it was a reflection of how thankful Dongmin felt hearing those words coming from someone else who wasn't a part of his life back then. Feeling the other’s eyes on himself, he could only hope that the dancer caught on.

“I know. But it is their job to keep me sane.”

“Well, Hani seemed to take care of that part.” Dongmin heard a smile in Bin’s voice. “Now you seem to be completely mesmerized by her.”

“That’s ture,” Dongmin admitted, leaning against the back of the chair, eyes catching Moon Bin’s before the later turned away to gulp down some of the alcohol. “She’s the little princess of my heart, I can’t deny it.”

Bin nodded a few times, seemingly having noticed that. “It would be weird if it weren’t like that. Besides, you’re dating now, too. So things are looking up.”

Dongmin chocked on his drink and his hand struggled to collect a paper towel to wipe all bubbly liquid that dribbled (or, rather, spurted) from his mouth and accompanied Bin’s statement. Thankfully, Bin beat him to that, hands moving quickly to offer him one between his two fingers.

Eyes wide, Dongmin swallowed a lump in his throat. There were a lot of things weird about the statement ‘you are dating’. Firstly, the idea itself Dongmin was not that used to. He went out to the dates Jinwoo set him up for, but dating sounded like a constant. Almost like a commitment. And truthfully, even if Dongmin could not deny the attractiveness of his recent date, there were a lot of questions in his head about what was actually going on between him and the doctor. Secondly, Dongmin made sure not to mention any dates to Moon Bin, in hopes of keeping up a clean, caring father image.

“How did you know?”

Bin displayed a cheeky smile.

“Well.. Last time you came back home looking dazed and as if someone had collected the stars from the sky and handed them to you. This time you came back home drunk and flustered. What else could it be.” Bin’s words were not that loud, as he explained his deduction under his breath. “Besides, Minhyuk might have mentioned that you are seeing... People.”

Dongmin didn’t really understand what Bin meant with those words, as he suddenly found himself overthinking everything. Did he look like someone collected the stars? How did that feel again? Was he really that flustered? And, most importantly, (caused by the faint memory of Bin calling him hot) in what context did Bin ask Minhyuk OR Minhyuk tell Bin that Dongmin was dating... people?

But before Dongmin could ask, Bin was speaking again.

“So how’s it going?”

“What?”

“How’s it going with the person you’re dating?”

No smile offered this time, Bin only seemed genuinely curious again. It threw Dongmin off, turning him into a stuttering mess, as he wasn’t sure whether he was ready to talk about his dating life. But, just like the other times, he broke the wall he built himself right when he peeked at Bin.

“I honestly don’t even know?”

That made Bin’s eyebrows go up and hide completely under his messily styled bangs.

“You seemed very happy?”

“I don’t... I don’t know.” Dongmin slouched, his shoulders visibly dropping and his frame didn’t seem as wide anymore.

“Don’t you like them?” Bin’s torso was once again turned towards Dongmin and he leaned his cheek against his hand, resting it on the table as he quietly observed Dongmin.

“I-“ he wanted to say a simple ‘I do’ but his voice got caught in his throat. “Sort of, I guess..?”

“You have to give me more than that so I could be a proper therapist, you know,” Bin decided on a light joke, which made Dongmin giggle and straighten his frame again.

“It’s just that… I might have told him about Hani on our first meeting.” In the corner of his eye, Dongmin saw how Bin perked up, munching on his lips while waiting for answers.

“And that’s bad because..?” Bin blinked a few times.

Quickly, Dongmin turned towards Bin. “I know, right,” he nodded enthusiastically, having finally found someone to share the same views as him, since Jinwoo always schooled Dongmin and thought him not to mention his daughter during his dates. “Jinwoo says I shouldn’t say that.” He watched how Bin’s brows furrowed in confusion, a sign that to Dongmin said that Bin didn’t understand where exactly they were going. “So it just slipped that night and the guy got so uncomfortable at the mention of Hani he left.”

Bin didn’t hide how surprised he felt, a ‘what??’ falling out of his sunned lips. It only encouraged Dongmin to rant further, as he turned to face Bin.

“And then he called me a couple of days ago to go to lunch, but I didn’t have where to leave Hani. So when I mentioned rescheduling, he just said to bring her along. But during lunch he either ignored her or kept trying to bribe her to go to play in the playground and leave us alone. Tonight, he didn’t even mention her once.” His thoughts were scattered but (as far as he could tell from Bin’s expressions), the other understood. “And Hani doesn’t exactly like him either. Everything is just a mess and I am not sure of what to do.”

“That’s not right.” It didn’t even take a second for Bin to respond to Dongmin’s story.

Dongmin stared at Bin, waiting for a further explanation of his line of thought. Though, he couldn’t help but feel a hurricane of emotions at the moment, all of which revolved around how thankful and how nice he felt having finally had the chance to talk it out with someone other than himself. Especially since the other seemed to be voicing the mindset that lingered in the back of Dongmin’s head – the one he kept denying because of desperation.

Bin chose to finish his drink before speaking up again, silky calmness was lacing through his voice.

“If he didn’t like you, he wouldn’t have asked you out again,” the dancer pointed out. Though, Dongmin had a feeling of where that sentence was going. “But that’s the point. He only wants you, not Hani. Otherwise he would have payed attention to her. And not ran off when he first heard of her.”

Dongmin sighs audibly, the sound sinking into the walls, realizing that all of his drunk had long vanished.

“I’m not sure what his mindset is.”

“I am.” Bin does not hesitate. “He seems to fail to consider the idea that he can not peel you away from Hani and sweep her under a rug. That is not how it works. She is your daughter. The biggest part of your life, right?” Bin stopped, waiting for a nod of an approval from Dongmin. “And if he doesn’t realize that, maybe he is not that great and even more so - not worth your time.”

It is silent again, as Bin keeps murmuring something under his breath, keeping a frown on. Dongmin took those precious, silent seconds to just stare at him, as his stomach twisted and turned, forming an undeniably satisfying feeling inside of him – the feeling he recognized as the same one that washed over him whenever he came home to find Bin and Hani in domestic situations. It was the same, completely warm and pleasurable feeling. And, for once, Dongmin did not brush it off and did not fight it back. And right then was the first time Dongmin _really_ took Bin in, eyes travelling along features that seemed almost heavenly as they reflected the vague moonlight. It only made the butterflies worse.

“Besides, who in the world would not like Hani. That guy is a bad one, I’m telling you.”

More butterflies.

Dongmin very honestly could not understand where the sudden feelings were coming from; it was hard to pinpoint whether he was simply thankful for Bin’s consideration or if those were feelings threatening to emerge.

“Maybe,” Dongmin huffs out from beneath his breath.

“I should take you out some time, show you what a real date should look like.”

At first, Dongmin thought that it was just his imagination making Bin’s lips move and words form accordingly. Though the more he stared at Bin’s lips, the more he noticed that he was completely frozen, borderline terrified of whatever he had said. Or, more likely, the reaction he could receive from the strict, tense and already taken (sort of) father.

“I... You... What?”

Bin stayed quiet and Dongin could hear his brain working to consider what options he had. In the situation Bin had nothing to do but to either own up to the words he so easily said himself or reveal that he was just messing with Dongmin. 

“Take you out on a date. I should do that.”

“And what makes you think that I’d agree?”

“Well, for starters, I liked Hani before I considered liking you, so..” Bin shrugged, a sudden dorky smile brightening his features.

It stirred the warmth in Dongmin again and his eyes dropped somewhere along Bin’s hoodie, laughing shyly at Bin’s confidence. There was something so natural about the way Bin spoke to him and the comfort he felt from the dancer’s presence that made it impossible for the father to even try to say no to Bin's vague offer.

“Shouldn't you tell me something about yourself first?” Dongmin hummed, turning away from Bin. But despite him trying to act lukewarm, Bin didn’t miss the absence of a ‘no’ and perked up at the playfulness he received from the other.

“Isn’t that what _dates_ are for?” Bin grinned, giving an answer as sly as Dongmin's.

Th host had to resist the urge to smack Bin for his smart mouth.

Being with Bin that night felt like nothing else; so much that Dongmin, the tense, workaholic, loving father Dongmin, fell asleep completely relaxed as his cheeks hurt from smiling. He was undeniably, out-of-his-mind happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bin the person to hate whoever Dongmin dates.
> 
> Sorry for the lack of action and editing. ;;c And thank you for reading ! I will make sure to write something more interesting for this next.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed!! I will keep updating the tags as I go. I don't want to get too ahead of myself.
> 
> This will be sort of long so I hope you will enjoy it!


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